Energy & Environment

Chicago – September 07, 2026 -- Reactivate and The Obama Foundation have signed a multi-year agreement making the Foundation the anchor tenant for community solar projects across Illinois, a structure designed to let low-to-moderate income households and small businesses cut utility bills by up to 50%.

Obama Foundation anchors solar portfolio to unlock financing for local subscribers

Under the deal, the Foundation commits to purchasing a portion of solar output from projects developed, owned and operated by Reactivate, a move that stabilizes project economics and frees remaining capacity for subscription by residents and businesses through the Illinois Solar For All program or other regional community solar schemes.

Boulder, Colo. – September 05, 2026 -- Ascend Analytics now optimizes more than 5.2 gigawatts (GW) of operating battery energy storage capacity through its SmartBidder platform, positioning the firm as the largest independent provider of bid optimization services to the U.S. storage market.

Portfolio spans three ISOs and over 30 customers

The operating fleet includes roughly 4 GW under management in ERCOT, 1 GW in CAISO and 200 megawatts (MW) in PJM, spread across more than 30 customers. Ascend crossed the 5 GW threshold in the second quarter of 2026 following the onboarding of storage assets for California Community Power, a Joint Power Agency, and San Diego Community Power, a Community Choice Aggregator.

Boulder, Colorado – September 04, 2026 -- Odyssey Energy Solutions has secured $74 million in new financing, combining $27 million in equity with $47 million in debt, to expand its platform financing distributed renewable energy projects across Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

New investors join round to fund solar and battery procurement infrastructure

The equity tranche drew new backers Broadscale Group, FMO, and Al Mada Ventures, alongside existing investors Union Square Ventures, Equal Ventures, Abstract Ventures, Twelve Below, FJ Labs, MCJ, and Transition Ventures. Debt financing came from British International Investment, BIO, the Facility for Energy Inclusion via Cygnum Capital, and the Energy Entrepreneurs Growth Fund via TripleJump.

Indianapolis – September 04, 2026 -- Calumet, Inc. (NASDAQ: CLMT) has slashed the remaining capital requirement for its Montana Renewables sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) expansion to $137 million, down from the $1.2 billion originally contemplated under a Phase 2 plan backed by the U.S. Department of Energy.

Capital spend drops as Calumet repurposes idle refinery equipment

The reduction comes from redeploying a hydrotreater, hydrogen plant and naphtha splitter from the adjacent Calumet Montana Refining (CMR) asphalt facility under a long-term lease, rather than building new capacity from scratch. The tied-in hydrotreater creates a dual-reactor system running in a lower-yield-loss "polishing" configuration instead of standard "cracking" service.

Caracas, Venezuela – September 04, 2026 -- The United States Departments of State and War have struck a deal with North American Blue Energy Partners (NABEP) that hands the company commercial rights to more than 65 billion barrels of P1 oil reserves in Venezuela, backed by nearly $100 billion in planned investment.

Washington secures a 35% equity stake and discounted crude access

Under the agreement, NABEP retains operating control of the venture while the U.S. government holds rights to a 35% stake in the company and preferential access to purchase 20% of its production at cost. President Donald J. Trump called it "the biggest oil deal in world history" in an announcement on Truth Social, framing it as a mechanism to bring lower fuel prices to American consumers and fiscal stability to Venezuela.

Paris – September 03, 2026 -- CHINT presented a portfolio of high-voltage transformers, SF6-free switchgear and data center power systems at CIGRE 2026, targeting Europe's grid operators as they contend with surging AI-driven electricity demand.

CHINT displays 1,000 kV and 750 kV transformer technology for high-voltage transmission

Under its Green Power Grid & High Voltage lineup, the company showcased 1,000 kV low-loss, low-noise oil-immersed power transformers alongside 750 kV natural ester oil-immersed units. It also presented SF6-free medium- and high-voltage switchgear, including 24 kV, 145 kV and 420 kV SF6-free gas-insulated switchgear (GIS), aimed at cutting environmental impact in grid infrastructure.

WASHINGTON – September 03, 2026 -- The National Petroleum Council (NPC) has issued nine recommendations urging Congress and federal agencies to launch a coordinated national program to assess America's subsurface energy and mineral resources, warning that over 80% of the country's energy needs depend on assets that remain largely unmapped for decades.

The report, titled "American Resources for a Secure Future: A National Cooperative Subsurface Assessment Program," was commissioned by U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright and developed by roughly 80 experts spanning state government, Tribal organizations, industry, and academia. It was approved by a full vote of NPC membership.

VANCOUVER – September 03, 2026 -- Defense Metals Corp. (TSXV: DEFN) (OTCQB: DFMTF) (FSE:35D) has reported assay results from an initial eleven core drill holes totaling 1,633 metres at its 100%-owned Wicheeda Rare Earth Project near Prince George, British Columbia, with drill hole WI26-96 returning 2.86% Total Rare Earth Oxide (TREO) over 65 metres, including a higher-grade section averaging 6.15% TREO over 20.3 metres.

Drill hole WI26-93 delivers 1.70% TREO over 184 metres at the deposit's southern margin

Collared from the same setup as WI26-96, hole WI26-93 cut obliquely across the southern margin of the Wicheeda Deposit, intersecting mixed xenolithic and dolomite carbonatite grading 1.70% TREO over 184 metres, including 2.52% TREO over 57 metres.

Houston – September 03, 2026 -- Summit Midstream Corporation (NYSE: SMC) has reached a final investment decision on a mainline compression expansion for its Double E Pipeline, backed by a new 200 MMcf/d long-term firm transportation agreement with an investment-grade shipper.

Open season secures 550 MMcf/d of new take-or-pay commitments

Double E Pipeline, LLC concluded an open season that generated 550 MMcf/d of binding long-term commitments, pushing total contracted firm capacity on the system to approximately 2.2 Bcf/d. The expansion will add a bi-directional mainline compressor station that increases forward haul capacity to the Waha Hub by roughly 900 MMcf/d, with an in-service target of the fourth quarter of 2028. Double E has already placed a purchase order for the long-lead gas turbine compression units to lock in manufacturing slots, though the project still requires FERC and other regulatory approvals.

Abu Dhabi, UAE – September 03, 2026 -- ePointZero, a subsidiary of 2PointZero Group, has agreed to acquire a 90% stake in Azura Power Holdings, a pan-African independent power producer with 752 MW of operating capacity across Nigeria, Senegal and Mozambique.

ePointZero enters African power generation via a 752 MW operating platform

The deal marks ePointZero's first entry into African power generation, acquiring the ownership stakes previously held by Actis and Africa50 through a new acquisition vehicle formed with Amaya Capital. Azura Power's founding partner, Amaya Capital, will retain a 10% minority interest, having built the platform since 2010.